Witnesses Detained in Breach of HC Fiat:

Witnesses Detained in Breach of HC Fiat: NGO

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | ENS

Published: 22nd July 2015 06:38 AM

VELLORE: Allegations have surfaced that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) interrogating the three witnesses in connection with the Seshachalam encounter case “wrongfully restrained” two witnesses and an advocate in a private institution, Sri Padmavati University, in Tirupati during the early hours on Tuesday.

According to a representative of People’s Watch, an NGO, it received a call from one of the advocates accompanying the witnesses presumably in a panic. The NGO protested with the SIT for going against the AP High Court directive and succeeded in getting the SIT to finally hand over the witnesses to the NGO after much argument. This was denied by SIT police who claimed that the NGO interfered with their investigation. “We were planning to commence the inquiry on Wednesday. But the NGO’s representative protested and took them away,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrasekar of the SIT.

Palaniammal of People’s Watch who was contacted by K Umar, an advocate, who had accompanied the witnesses, said, “Police personnel attached to SIT violated the Hyderabad High Court order and whisked two key witnesses — Elangovan and Sekar — away. The SIT teams did not communicate this either to the Tamil Nadu police teams or us. After reaching Puthur, the SIT sped away with the witnesses.” The HC order says that “....the SIT shall ensure safety and security of all the three witness and the advocates as long as they would be within the jurisdiction of the State of AP.”

They had taken the duo to the guest house (Saaviri) in the University. While Elangovan and advocate K  Umar were taken to the guest house at about 2.20 am, the team that took Sekar reached the guest house at 3.50 am on Tuesday.  “We were inside the guest house till 8 am. We were not allowed to step out,” said Umar.

Umar said he was worried after Elangovan did not return for 50 minutes when he had gone to attend nature’s call. “I contacted People’s Watch representative and informed them about the situation,” he added.

The three witnesses accompanied by three separate SIT teams retraced each of the witness’s movements starting from their respective villages to Puthur. “The SIT team did not show any interest in stopping in certain places to cross-check my route and took me instead to the University,” said Sekar.

Another witness, A Balachandran of Sitheri hills in Dharmapuri, expressed his unwillingness to go with SIT after Puthur in Chittoor district, fearing for his life.

Kin in Dark Over Accident Victims in Oman

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | ENS

Published: 20th July 2015

VELLORE: Despite forty hours passing after a road accident in Muscat, Oman, in which seven persons, including five from India (three from Vellore, one from Thanjavur, one from Kerala) died, aggrieved family members in Vellore have not received any official word either from the Ministry of External Affairs or from the Indian Embassy in Muscat.

The Vellore district administration has made every effort to contact the Embassy in Muscat and officials in Delhi and Chennai, but have been thwarted in their attempts to contact anyone and get more information. Two other persons who died were in the bus and were from Oman. Though it is the Ramzan weekend, Vellore district officials voiced their concernthat in such emergencies appropriate officials must communicate with aggrieved family members.

The three Vellore victims have been identified as Stephen Joseph (44) of Bagayam, M Divakar (24) of Palur and A Suresh (34) of Karai in Ranipet. The car in which they were travelling was involved in a head-on collision with a tourist bus near Haima between Salalah and Muscat around 5.30 am (7 am IST) on Saturday. They were returning from Salalah after spending the Ramzan vacation at a friend’s house.

Walter Nickson, a relative of Stephen Joseph, was the first to get the news about the tragic accident. The Indians were charred to death in the accident, according to Joseph’s friend John Kennedy, who is in Muscat. “A colleague of Joseph called me on Saturday evening to break the news. There has been no word from the embassy or the ministry so far,” he said.

Divakar’s brother Deva Prasad too said that there was no communication from the government. “We were shocked on hearing about the accident from his friends. We appeal to the government to take measures to bring back the bodies,” he said. While Joseph and Divakar were working as X-ray technicians in Life Line Hospital, Suresh was working as an X-ray technician in Royal Hospital, a government-run facility in Muscat.

Frantic calls by the district administration officials to several offices in Chennai and Delhi, including the Protector General of Emigrants, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Delhi, Joint Secretary (South) of Ministry of Overseas, Delhi, and Head of Branch Secretariat, MEA, Chennai, proved futile.Delhi (011-26874250, 24197984, 24674143/44) kept ringing; in Chennai the number 044-28252200 was out of order.

“We kept trying from the morning to confirm that residents of Vellore were involved in the accident, but in vain. We did not receive any information till 7 pm on Sunday,” an official said. “Even the office of the District Police did not receive any communication in this regard,” the official claimed. District administration officials faced the same hurdles in getting information during the evacuation of Indians from war-torn Yemen when nurses from Vellore were trapped there. 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/546430/The-New-Indian-Express-Vellore/20-07-2015#page/3/1

'Quarry Owners, Officials Collude'

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 18th July 2015 05:18 AM

VELLORE:  Failure of officials to control stone quarry contractors has emboldened the latter to plunder the natural resource in and around Musiri and Thenkadapanthangal villages in Walajapet. Residents of the villages allege that contractors, who were granted permission between 2008 and 2011 to carry out stone quarrying for a period of ten years, are violating norms and quarrying beyond the permissible limits.

Responding to a query by U Sagayam, Legal Commissioner appointed to inspect mining activities in the State, on a complaint of indiscriminate stone quarrying lodged by B Srinath, a farmer in Walajapet, the district administration has submitted that contractors have cut stones beyond the permissible limit and quarried in non-permitted areas and that Collector R Nanthagopal had directed the Ranipet RDO to initiate action against violators.

While sources said the Collector had slapped penalty of over Rs 42 crore on contractors of 10 stone quarries in Ananthalai village and Rs 86.52 lakhs on a contractor in Senkadu, Sabas Babu, the district president of BJP charged that no further action was taken and not even a single rupee has been collected so far. “Officials are hand in glove with the contractors and under valued the loss to government in the quarrying,” he alleged.

BJP cadre staging a protest in Walajapet, vellore

On Friday, the party staged a demonstration to highlight the violations and plundering of natural resource. Villagers who participated in the protest condemned the district administration and police for failing to take action against the erring contractors and said authorities were mute spectators to indiscriminate explosions carried out to break stones.

Further, villagers complained that indiscriminate quarrying had caused irreversible damage to the environment and affected farming activities in  Musiri, Anathalai and Thenkadapanthal. “More than 60 acres of land have been affected directly due to the stone quarries. Water source has depleted and many wells went dry years ago,” said B Srinath, a farmer who has six acres of land a few hundred metres away from a quarry. He further said that many springs originating in the forest and hilly areas in the vicinity and a water canal were destroyed by the quarries. “The contractors have extended quarrying activities into the forest area adjacent to their site,” he noted.

Officials in the Department of Geology and Mines, Vellore, said they have conducted inspections for nearly six months from September 2014 and assessed the level of environment damage and violation. “Based on the assessment, we recommended the RDO of Ranipet to issue show cause notices to 11 quarries in April 2015. But the contractors have approached the court and the case is pending,” said an official.Collector R Nanthagopal was not available for comment.

Arivu: from Cell to celluloid

Movie on Arivu is on the cards, says director S P Jananathan

J. Shanmugha Sundaram

Vellore:

If everything goes on well, you may get to see Arivu (A G Perarivalan), a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and his story on screen in the near future, according to National Film Award winning Director S P Jananathan.

“I will make a movie on Arivu in the future. I will even make him act if  there is an opportunity and if he is interested in acting,” Jananathan, director of the recently released movie ‘Porampokku Engira Pothuvudamai’, told the Express after meeting Arivu in the Vellore Central Prison for Men on Thursday. He was accompanied by Arivu’s mother Aruputhammal.

A telephone conversation a week ago  between Arivu and Jananathan on the movie that touches the issue of death penalty and mental agony of death convicts led to Thursday’s meeting. During the conversation, Arivu had expressed his desire to meet the director.

This is not the first time the two are meeting in the prison. “I met Arivu when I had come to the prison with director Seeman earlier,” he added.

Though he has dealt with capital punishment in this movie starring actors Arya and Vijay Sethupathy, the meeting with Arivu has kindled further interest in him to do a movie on similar lines. There are many untold stories behind the walls of prisons, he pointed out.

“Arivu was impressed with the movie. He heard the story from the prison personnel, his mother and also read movie reviews in the newspapers. Though he did not see a single scene of the movie, he recalls the dialogues in the movie,” said the director, who won the National award in 2004 for the movie “Iyarkai” starring actor Shyam.

”Arivu told me that the movie has created an impact on the society and also changed the mindset of many about capital punishment. It helped him in particular and death convicts in general.” said the director, quoting Arivu.

If the movie had been released two years ago, Arivu felt that it could have bettered his chances for release as media reaches a large section of the society, he added.

The director feels that he never thought that the movie would make such an impact. “If I thought the movie would create such an impact, I would have put in little more hardwork into it,” he said.

Suggested Box: Arivu’s mother Aruputhammal said that his son is confident of winning his freedom very soon. He is having supreme faith in the judiciary.

“When I asked about his health and treatment, Arivu said he felt much better now,” said Ariputhammal.

She further said that the doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital had asked him to come for further check-up next month and said that by then, he will win his legal battle to get back his freedom.

/eom/shan/ 

Govt School Tasks Students to Scale 30-feet Arch

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 16th July 2015

VELLORE: Teachers of the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Tirupattur on Wednesday allegedly made some students climb up the school’s 30-ft-high arch at the entrance, in utter disregard for their safety, to remove a portion of the school’s name. The incident follows the school administration applying to the Education Department to convert the boys-only school to a co-educational institution to increase its strength of about 300 boys. Ten years ago, the school had boasted of a student strength of 1,500.

Before the school administration received permission to convert the school into a co-ed institution, it changed the name on the school’s arch by adding the word Irupalar (co-educational).

However, when parents and locals questioned the change before permission was granted, the administration sought to remove the word irupalar from the arch. The name was changed about four months ago.

At 3 pm, three students were spotted perched on the arch of the over 50-year-old school, knocking off the word irupalar, while teachers watched them from the ground.

Passersby and residents thought the students were up to some mischief, but later learned that they were following the instructions of the teachers. The boys found it difficult to climb up the arch.

P Priyadharshini, district education officer (Tirupattur), admitted that the students were made to scale the arch. “The teachers told me that the students mounted the arch to correct the school’s name and they were carefully watching them,” said the DEO. A local said there is a high-tension wire close to the arch which would have posed additional danger to the students.

They sat on top of the arch and removed the word Irupalar reverting to the original name - Government Boys Higher Secondary School.

“Politicians had assured us they would get us the permission from the Directorate of School Education, but nothing happened,” said a teacher of the school. Another teacher, when asked about students’ safety, refused to comment. A member of the Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Vocational Teachers Kazhagam said, “The act is condemnable. Teachers should give paramount importance to students’ safety.”

Ex-DSP Forcing Accused in Red Sanders Case?

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 10th July 2015 

VELLORE:The Judicial Magistrate (JM) Court in Ambur has dismissed a petition seeking to shift one of the accused in the red sanders smuggling case from the Vellore prison, observing that the request should come either from the aggrieved person or the jail superintendent and not from a ‘third party’.

In his petition, Viswanathan, son of Nagendran (47) a co-accused in the red sanders smuggling case, claimed that his father was being threatened by former Prohibition Enforcement Wing Deputy Superintendent of Police  K Thangavelu (51) and three others - Gopu, Loganathan and Mariyappan of Kancheepuram district - all lodged in the Vellore Central Prison for Men in the same case.

The quartet also wanted Nagendran to inform the court that the Deputy Superintendent of Police had no role in the case, besides bearing all their legal expenses.

Nagendran’s family came to know of this when they visited him at the prison earlier this week. They claimed that Nagendran’s life was under threat from the Deputy Superintendent of Police and the other three accused.

Subsequently, Viswanathan filed a petition in the Judicial Magistrate court, pleading to shift his father from the Vellore prison to any other prison.

However, Magistrate R A S Anandaraj dismissed the plea stating that the court cannot entertain a third party petition, and directed Viswanathan to approach the Madras High Court.

“The court told the petitioner (Viswanathan) that it can consider petitions either from the aggrieved person or the prison superintendent,” said a source.

It is learnt that the court had communicated to the prison administration to look into the issue.

Prison Superintendent V Karupannan and other senior officials of the prison could not be reached for comments.  

Meanwhile, Magistrate Anandaraj on Thursday issued an order extending the judicial custody of Thangavelu, Gopu, Loganathan and Mariyappan till July 23.

District Court Strikes Down Election of Panchayat Chief

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 11th July 2015VELLORE: Three years after it was held, the Principal District Court has declared as null and void the election for the post of president of Valayathur panchayat in Tirimiri and pronounced the petitioner as the winning candidate.

Delivering the verdict, judge AVR Deenadayalan said the announcement of K Kali as the Valayathur  panchayat president, pursuant to the election held on October 17, 2011, as “null and void, ultra vires and illegal”. “It is further declared that the petitioner R Santhi is the winning candidate of the election held for the post of the panchayat of Valayathur village,” the judge said on Thursday.

Petitioner Santhi approached the court saying the district collector, who was the district election officer, and the BDO of Timiri, who was the election commissioner, had colluded with the ruling party and manipulated the postal votes in favour of Kali. Santhi submitted that she polled 1,158 votes, while her rival candidate Kali got 1,155 votes. Though Santhi was declared winner initially, the Returning Officer (RO) delayed issuing the certificate of election to her. Officials later stated that out of the 22 postal votes received, 16 were in favour of Kali and four for Santhi and declared Kali as winning candidate.

According to Rule 52 (2) of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat (Elections Rules) 1995, postal vote should have a declaration (form 17) along with the ballot and the elector shall sign the form. It should reach the RO before 5 pm on the day before the poll. “However, the RO said there were no postal votes before voting commenced on October 17, 2011. Apart from this, of the 20 postal votes, only two had the declaration form,” Santhi’s advocate said.

The court, on January 30, 2015, appointed an advocate commissioner to shoulder the assignment of recounting of the postal ballots and passed an order directing the Collector and the BDO to produce the declaration forms for the postal votes. But the RO and BDO did not submit them. In the meantime, the advocate commissioner found declaration forms in only two of the postal votes out of 20 and submitted a report to the court.

“The postal votes without declaration forms are invalid votes, according to the rules,” the advocate said. Based on the evidence submitted, the judge pronounced Santhi as the winning candidate.

Cradle of Weightlifting Losing its Passion

Cradle of Weightlifting Losing its Passion for the Sport Due to Lack of Support

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 13th July 2015 06:06 

http://media.newindianexpress.com/cradle.JPG/2015/07/13/article2917010.ece/alternates/w620/cradle.JPG

VELLORE: Weightlifting, which made Vellore district and particularly Sathuvachari popular in the international arena, is slowly fading from this part of the State. Poor facilities and lack of financial assistance from the government are laying waste to young talent that is capable of winning medals at national and international levels, and forcing youngsters to stay away from the sport.

Famously known as the cradle of weightlifters, Vellore district has witnessed a drastic decline in the number of weightlifters in the last couple of years. The district has produced nearly 15 international players, Arjuna awardees and Olympians and more than 80 national-level players since the mid-1980s. Of the prominent weightlifters from Vellore is Sathish Sivalingam of Sathuvachari who bagged the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 77-kg category.

Till a decade ago, every team that represented the country in international events had one or two lifters from Vellore. Many won laurels for the country and the State. Though it is a tough sport and needs continuous and rigorous training, many youth from middle and lower middle classes opted for it earlier as it guaranteed employment in the government sector. Later, it turned into a passion for many.

After weightlifting categories were trimmed from 15 to eight (56 kg, 62 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, 85 kg, 94 kg, 105 kg and 105+ kg) in the early 1990s, employment opportunities in Central and State governments dwindled, according to T Muthu, a 40-year-old Olympian and Arjuna awardee. He won gold in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in 1999 and represented the country in other international events.

Hitherto, five to six weight lifters landed government jobs in a year. “Now, not even two get jobs in a year. The State government is showing no interest in recruiting national-level players,” said E Sekar, a former international weightlifter.

From anywhere between 150 and 200 players at any point of time in the 1990s, the number fell as the years rolled on. “Now, there are hardly 50 young weightlifters in the district under training. If the scenario continues, there will be no weightlifters from Vellore in a few years and the sport will vanish from here soon,” said Muthu.

Poor training facilities with below par equipment and non-availability of qualified trainers and support staff has made the situation worse.

Financial constraint is another major factor that drives away the talented weight lifters from the sports.  “The sports has become a costly affair now.  A lifter should take proper diet and supplements that will cost around Rs 2,000 per day. Many young talented lifters from poor families cannot afford this and the poverty is driving such potential candidates away from the sports. The government should step in to revive the lost glory of Sathuvachari and weightlifting,” said 24 year-old Sathish Sivalingam.

Sathish recalled that his senior Ramachandran was a capable of winning medals in international level, but injuries undone his hard work of several years. There were many such Ramachandrans in the district.

“Unless the government establishes a fully equipped training centre-cum- hostel with supporting staff to harness potential of the young prospects, it will be difficult to tap the potential of youngsters here,” added Sekar, another international player from Sathuvachari. He added that now international players from Vellore are rare. /eom/shan/

Vellore Corp is ready for Central Govt’s Smart City project

Vellore Corp is ready for Central Govt’s Smart City project

J Shanmugha Sundaram/ Published on July 14

Vellore: The Vellore Corporation is gearing up for the Central Government’s Smart City project and taking efforts to meet the parameters laid by the State and Central Governments.

The local body is preparing to match the guidelines laid down by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA), Commissioner of the Corporation Janaki Raveendran told Express.

The 60-member council gave its approval for a resolution placed before it on Monday about the Smart City project.  It reads that “the local body is ready to follow the guidelines laid down by the Central and State Governments under Smart City project and is also thanking the government for proposing the city for the project.”  It has been forwarded to the CMA.

Under the project, the selected city would receive a grant of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. The Tamil Nadu Government has proposed all the 12 Corporations in the state for the project. “The CMA has devised certain parameters and will award marks for the corporations based on its performance and meeting its guidelines such as prioritising the needs and demands of the local body. We will follow the guidelines to the best to score over other municipalities,” she added.

The Corporation has already studied civic issues and needs of the City that resulted in the City Development Plan. Water crisis, sanitation and traffic were the major issues in the Corporation limit and the local body has prioritised it.

 “We have also completed the comprehensive mobility plan with the help of State Government’s agency TNUIFSL (Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd) to decongest the traffic in the city. The plan was ready by last year itself,” she further said.

The local body is also ready with ‘cluster method’ to tackle waste. Under this method, the corporation would take efforts to turn the waste into energy. “At present, we are dumping the 230 metric tonnes of waste that is generated per day in the dumping yard. We will opt for cluster method to segregate the waste and turn that into resource. We are in the process of identifying a suitable site for the project,” she further said./eom/shan/

Thugs Vanish from Police Radar

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 09th July 2015

VELLORE: Notorious gangsters ‘Athiradi’ Maha (alias) Mahalingam (35) and Vasur Raja (alias) Raja (aged about 30), disappeared from the police radar after jumping bail a couple of months ago. The Vellore court have issued non-bailable arrest warrants (NWB), but police remain in the dark on their whereabouts.

Vasur Raja and ‘Athiradi’ Maha

Sources in the police department said that Maha involved in six murder cases, including the murder of

Public Relations Officer of CMC Hospital, John Segar (who was murdered on March 16, 2009 at Kazhinjur). The principal district and sessions Court, Vellore, sentenced Maha and his associate Appu (alias) Rajendran (27) to life-imprisonment. The duo appealed against the verdict at the HC.

Vasur Raja                                            Athiradi Maha

Four cases were pending against him, while he was acquitted for a murder case in  the Sathuvachari Police Station limit.

He obtained condition bail from the Vellore Court in two murder cases, including the murder case of his rival gang member Suriya,two months ago.

“After the conditional bail was relaxed by the Judicial Magistrate Court-I in Salem during the first week of June, he vanished from the police radar. Within a week, he along with his associates abducted A Prabhu (24), a native of Azhaganavodai village in Tiruvannamalai, for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh on June 14. Prabhu’s family is involved in red sander smuggling. Thus, Maha targeted them to extort money,” said the police source.

Kannamangalam police, however, acted swiftly and rescued the youth on June 15. The police arrested four of Maha’s associates, including the panchayat president of K V Kuppam panchayat in Vellore.

“Maha managed to escape from the police and is still at large.  He masterminded realtor Krishnan’s murder from behind the bars in 2010 and has continued his activities at his will,” added the source.

The gangster is said to have cut his trademark long hair and has had a tonsure at the Tirupathi temple. 

“He filed anticipatory bail at the HC in the abduction for ransom case,” added the police official.

Maha’s rival Vasur Raja, who is also off the grid of police surveillance, along with his aides attempted to murder Maha and his gang members on the premises of the Vellore District Combined Courts Complex in Sathuvachari on April 10, 2010. Wielding sickles, Raja and his gang stormed into the court complex to kill Maha and his gang.

”After the shocking incident, the government had passed an order to extend security in all district courts. But Raja and his gang member were acquitted from the case over lack of evidence,” said the senior police officer.

Within three days of his acquittal from the case, in the third week of April, he was out on bail in the abduction-cum-murder case of pawn shop owner Muthukumar, who was hacked to death on February 19, 2014. Vasur Raja was last spotted four weeks ago near Ponniyamman Koil in Perumugai on the outskirts of Vellore.

“Gang wars and related crimes can be controlled, if the district police act quickly and firmly. Information that the gangsters are extorting businessmen in Vellore has reached, but the local police is not acting upon the information,” added the police source.

Inspector Premraj Summoned by CB-CID Team

By Express News Service

Published: 06th July 2015

VELLORE: The CB-CID team probing the case of Shameel Ahmed, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital allegedly due to injuries sustained in illegal detention, summoned former inspector of Pallikonda C Martin Premraj for interrogation on Monday. The summons was pasted on the wall of his rented house and was not personally handed to him, since he has remained at large ever since the death of Ahmed. His suspension orders too were not received by him in-person and was also pasted on the wall of his residence.

A police official said that “the inspector went on medical leave from June 28, the day after Ahmed died. He moved to a rented house in Katpadi recently,” the police official said. Since he was not available at the house, which was found locked, the police officials stuck a copy of the summons on the house door.

Uncle, Friend Held for Giving Beer To Child, 2 Still at Large

By Express News Service

Published: 08th July 2015

TIRUVANNAMALAI:Two more youths were arrested on Tuesday and a dragnet spread for two others, all of whom were caught on camera giving alcohol to a four-year-old child, the footage of which went viral in the social media on Monday. On Monday, within hours after the video went viral, district police arrested Elumalai (23) and Premkumar (22), who were part of the group giving alcohol to the toddler and cheering him on to drink it.

The special team constituted under Inspector S Rajasekar arrested C Murugan (24), maternal uncle of the four-year-old child and his friend Rajaram (23) of Mel Cholankuppam village in Kadaladi Police Station limit for actively encouraging the toddler to drink. 

“We have intensified the search for Murugan’s brother Manikandan and their friend Rajaram, who remain at large,” Superintendent of Police of Tiruvannamalai, R Ponni said. The incident, videographed and uploaded onto WhatsApp by one of the accused, Premkumar, was one minute and 38 seconds long and shows Murugan and his friends giving beer to his nephew and encouraging him to drink. The footage went viral in the social media including Facebook, sparking much controversy.

Police tracked down the youth by tracing the details of the registration number of a two-wheeler (TN 25 AJ 8209) seen in the video.

“One of the accused in the case alleged that Murugan often gave alcohol to the child. We are thoroughly investigating the facts,” said Investigation Officer, S Rajasekar.

Delay in Booking Inspector led to Ambur Clash

J Shanmugha Sundaram 

Published on July 8, 2015

Vellore: Family members of the late 26-year-old Shameel Ahmed of Ambur, have alleged that the Ambur Town police failed to immediately book former Inspector, C Martin Premraj, including other police personnel based on their complaint lodged on June 19 and instead actively shielded them, delaying the filing of a case on the charge of illegal detention and torture of Ahmed.

Inspector Martin PremrajThe family members claim that if the police had acted swiftly by filing a case against C Martin Premraj, the former Inspector of Pallikonda Station on June 19 for illegally detaining and roughing up Ahmed, the violence that ensued could have been averted.

“We lodged a complaint with the Ambur Town police on June 19, soon after Ahmed was admitted to the Ambur GH for his injuries. But they did not look into it seriously and dismissed the complaint,” Mohammed Ghouse Basha, Ahmed’s father-in-law said. 

Basha received Ahmed from police custody on June 19. “His hands were swollen and he could not move his right hand. His shoulders were also injured,” he said.

 Basha alleged that the family met Ambur Town station inspector Saravanan several times, who told them that he (Saravanan) would have to discuss the complaint with the DSP (P. Ganesan) to act on their complaint.

Since there was no active response from the police, the relatives along with members of the Indian Thoweed Jamath staged a protest on June 23, near Ambur Town police station, which resulted in the police arresting 27 protestors.

Inspector C. Martin Premraj

The transfer of Inspector C Martin Premraj to Vaniymabdi unit of Prohibition Enforcement Wing from Pallikonda Police Station on June 23 was, they claim, a knee-jerk response to the alarming sequence of events.

 Even after the protests that ensued, Basha said no case was filed by the police.

“The police finally filed a case because of the pressure that built up following Ahmed’s death on June 27 that triggered a larger protest lasting two hours, with 500 protestors gheraoing the police station.”

The sequence of events between June 19 and June 27 brought to light Ahmed’s illegal detention and the irregularities in police actions with Muslim youth in Vaniyambadi, Gudiyattam, Pernambut and Melvisharam becoming aware of police negligence through WhatsApp. Ahmed’s death created a sense of collective unease that possibly sparked the June 28 rioting and violence in Ambur town, Basha said.

“If the police had followed proper procedures and filed a case, it would have defused the tension immediately. The suspension of the inspector and CB-CID inquiry are delayed response,” he added.

Police officials have also admitted the lapse on their part. Sources in the CB-CID, said that the then Inspector of Pallikonda, Premraj has been issued a summons for an inquiry in connection with Ahmed’s death.

Residents hoist black flags

Vellore:  Black flags were hoisted in a few houses in Sandrorkuppam and Bharathiyar Nagar in Ambur on Tuesday condemning the violence on June 28 and demanding the revocation of the promulgation of Section 144 of CrPC  for 10 days with prohibitory orders in force from July 6 to July 15, 6 PM.

Watch Video: Youths Giving Liquor to 4-year-old

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | ENS
Published: 07th July 2015

TIRUVANNAMALAI: 

Within hours after a shocking video of a group of youth giving liquor to a 4-year-old went viral on social media, the Tiruvannamalai police arrested two youth and launched a search for four others, including the child’s maternal uncle.

The video, which was a minute and 37 seconds long, was circulated on WhatsApp and social media like Facebook. In the video, a group of six to seven youth are seen asking a four-year-old boy to drink beer from a plastic cup. They also tell him to eat nuts kept in a plastic bag.

While the boy is seen sipping the beer, the men seated around him egg him on and ask him to keep drinking. They even laugh as the boy sips on with evident difficulty. At one point, the toddler shakes his hand signalling that he does not want to drink more, but the men tell him to down it quickly.

>>Watch video here

The boy is seen coughing and drinking water. After this, he takes the last sip and throws away the cup.

As the video spread, the police swung into action and launched a search for the men. A two-wheeler’s registration number spotted in the video led the police to the men. “We formed three special teams to trace the youth. We saw the vehicle registration number in the video (TN 25 AJ 8209) and traced it to Elumalai of Mel Cholankuppam village in Kadaladi police station limits,” R Ponni, Superintendent of Police, Tiruvannamalai, told Express. She added that they indulged in such an act in an inebriated condition.

Elumalai (23) is one of the six men seen in the video. The police also nabbed Premkumar (22) of the same village. During inquiry, the duo told the police that the incident occurred on June 30 near a lake in the village.

Police said that the boy was the nephew of one of the accused, Murugan, who had gone to play cricket with his friends and had taken the boy along.

They consumed liquor after a playing cricket and it was after this that they made the four-year-old drink what was left over, police said.

Police have launched a search for four others, including Rajaram, Murugan and Manikandan of the same village. The preliminary inquiry divulged that Premkumar captured the entire act and circulated it among his friends on WhatsApp and it was later uploaded on social media, including Facebook.

The boy’s parents had left him with his maternal grandmother Muniyammal and are working as construction workers in Chennai. The parents of the child said that they were not aware about the incident, said the SP. 

Police registered a case against the six under section 25 (penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substance to juvenile or child) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000. They are contemplating invoking section 307 (attempt to murder) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), said police sources.

Sec 144 in Ambur, Vaniyambadi

Vellore: The district administration promulgated Section 144 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, (CrPC) that empowers a magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than ten people in an area to ensure that the simmering tension that continues to prevail in Ambur and Vaniyambadi towns and surrounding areas does not get out of hand. It came into effect after RDO of Tirupattur, D Renganathan convened a meeting with senior police officers and invoked it from June 6 to 6 pm on June 15. Police have deployed 600 people on bandobust duty in Ambur. So far, 131 individuals have been arrested.

Inspector Premraj still untraceable

Vellore:  Inspector C Martin Premraj, the prime accused in the alleged custodial death of Shameel Ahmed, continues to remain at large and has been untraceable. Sources in the CB-CID said that the then Inspector of Pallikonda, Premraj has been issued a summons for an inquiry in connection with the death of Ahmed. However, Premraj has not turned up for the inquiry. Police have Premraj’s permanent address in in Thirukovilur in Villupuram district.  “We will try to issue the summons copy in person. If he fails to do so, we will take further action,” said the police official.

Inspector Premraj Summoned by CB-CID Team

By Express News Service

Published: 06th July 2015VELLORE: The CB-CID team probing the case of Shameel Ahmed, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital allegedly due to injuries sustained in illegal detention, summoned former inspector of Pallikonda C Martin Premraj for interrogation on Monday. The summons was pasted on the wall of his rented house and was not personally handed to him, since he has remained at large ever since the death of Ahmed. His suspension orders too were not received by him in-person and was also pasted on the wall of his residence.

A police official said that “the inspector went on medical leave from June 28, the day after Ahmed died. He moved to a rented house in Katpadi recently,” the police official said. Since he was not available at the house, which was found locked, the police officials stuck a copy of the summons on the house door.

Inspector Premraj Summoned by CB-CID Team

By Express News Service

Published: 06th July 2015VELLORE: The CB-CID team probing the case of Shameel Ahmed, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital allegedly due to injuries sustained in illegal detention, summoned former inspector of Pallikonda C Martin Premraj for interrogation on Monday. The summons was pasted on the wall of his rented house and was not personally handed to him, since he has remained at large ever since the death of Ahmed. His suspension orders too were not received by him in-person and was also pasted on the wall of his residence.

A police official said that “the inspector went on medical leave from June 28, the day after Ahmed died. He moved to a rented house in Katpadi recently,” the police official said. Since he was not available at the house, which was found locked, the police officials stuck a copy of the summons on the house door.

Cops Trace Pavithra to Ambattur

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 06th July 2015VELLORE:A special police team late on Saturday nabbed 24-year-old Pavithra — who went missing under mysterious circumstances — from a working women’s hostel in Chennai.

The district police have been on the lookout for the mother of a four year-old child, who went missing on May 24.

Tracing her call logs, a special police team under Inspector R S Parthasarthy, with technical assistance of Assistant Director of the Mobile Forensic Lab K Pari located Pavithra in Vaniveni Women’s  Hostel in Ambattur on Saturday around midnight. She had been working in a textile showroom.

After Pavithra had gone missing it was alleged that  she was in an extra-marital affair with Shameel Ahmed (26) — something which she denied when she was nabbed.  Former Inspector of Pallikonda, C Martin Premraj — who is now facing a CB-CID inquiry — took Ahmed in for questioning on June 15 and illegally detained him for four days. During this time, he reportedly thrashed Ahmed severely, suspecting that he was aware about Pavithra’s whereabouts.

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                                                                                                             Pavithra with a police escort in Vellore on Sunday | Express

Ahmed was admitted in the government hospital in Ambur on June 19 and referred to the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital on June 23. From there, he was referred to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where he died on June 27. Following Ahmed’s death, Muslim outfits called for a protest and demanded action against Premraj and six other police personnel.

The large gathering of protestors turned hostile and pelted stones at police and also unleashed an attack on the 350 -odd police personnel. “The extra-marital relationship between Ahmed and Pavithra, who married her maternal uncle Palani seven years ago, is the reason behind the June 28 incident,” DSP of Ambur P Ganeshan said.

“After she left her house on May 24, she went to Chennai. From there, she took a train to Erode. There, Ahmed arranged for Pavithra’s stay. However, after repeated phone calls from her family members, Ahmed decided to send her back home. He sent her back on a train on May 27 and also informed her family members,” said Inspector Parthasarathy.

However, she did not get down in Ambur and went to Chennai. During her journey, she befriended Surendran of Chennai. With his help, she got a job in a textile showroom in Ambattur OT. He also helped Pavithra get a room in the working women’s hostel, where she was staying from May 30.

The police monitored the call logs of Pavithra’s contacts and picked up Suresh of Vettuvanam, who was working in Chennai. With his help, the police traced Pavithra’s new mobile number a couple of days ago. “We collected the call logs. We saw Pavithra and Surendran were frequently in touch, speaking over phone. The call logs helped us locate Pavithra,” said the Inspector.The police team picked her up from the hostel and brought her to Vellore on Sunday. Though the police heaved a sigh of relief after tracing Pavithra, the incidents in the aftermath of Ahmed’s death are still haunting them. Indeed, the district police was demoralised after the Ambur clash that targeted the men in khaki.

In the meantime, the Arakkonam Town Police picked Surendran (24), who is studying CA in Chennai and is a native of Dindugal, and his friend Saravanan (23) of Arakkonam for inquiry regarding the case.

Also Read: Pavithra Denies Having Affair with Shameel

Special teams camping in Erode to Trace Pavithra

Special Teams Formed to Trace Pavithra

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 04th July 2015

VELLORE: The district police have dispatched two special teams to Erode district to track  the 24-year-old Dalit girl, Pavithra of Kutchipalayam in Pallikonda, who has now been missing for more than a month.

 The death of Shameel Ahmed (26) of Ambur Town derailed the investigation to locate the girl.

The mother of a three year-old girl went missing on May 24.

The woman’s husband Palani  filed a missing case with the Pallikonda Station the following day.

Inquiry into the missing case revealed that Pavithra had an affair with Shameel Ahmed.

The inquiry further divulged that they developed an illicit affair when they were working in a private firm in Pallikonda. After learning about their relationship, the management of the firm sacked them both.

Ahmed moved to Erode after he got a job in a jewellery showroom.

After leaving the house, Pavithra reportedly contacted Ahmed, who asked her to come to Erode.

“Ahmed hired a house and asked Pavithra to stay there for a few days. He also contacted Pavithra’s family members on June 13 and told them that he was sending Pavithra to Pallikonda and that she would get there in three hours,” Ahmed’s friend M Firdosi told Express.

However, she did not reach Pallikonda.

Meanwhile, Palani approached the High Court and filed a habeas corpus writ. Following this, the police intensified their investigation.

However, the case got derailed following the death of Ahmed on June 28 at the Rajiv Gandhi GovernmentGeneral Hospital in Chennai.It resulted in a major law and order situation as protestors attackedseve-ral police personnel including women cops claiming that Ahmed died due to injuries sustained inillegal custody between June 15 and 19.

The focus now is to nab the attackers and restore normalcy in the disturbed area. In the process, the police lost track of Pavithra’s case.

Police officials now say that they have launched a search for the woman and have sent special teams to Erode.

“We are looking for her. We are yet to get information about her whereabouts,” said a police officer.